For those not familiar with The Open Notebook’s Peeps diorama contest, the rules are simple: Make a science-related diorama featuring Peeps. Our physics reporter, Emily Conover, created this Peep press conference about Ultima Peep, which just saw a flyby from New Hare-rizons. You can vote for Emily’s masterpeeps (and see all the other wonderful contenders) at theopennotebook.com. Here’s how Emily describes her diorama: Peep scientists are investigating an unusual object at the far reaches of the solar system, known as Ultima Peep. The spacecraft New Hare-rizons is closing in, and images of Ultima Peep are becoming clearer. At first, Ultima Peep appeared to be shaped like a bowling pin, but now, some are beginning to suspect that Ultima Peep is shaped like a peep. (Perhaps it is a lonely space peep?) The peeple demand information! Scientists have called a press conference to weigh in, and journalists are peepering them with questions. The scientific inspiration for this diorama is, of course, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft and its investigation of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, the shape of which became clearer as the spacecraft got closer. Unfortunately, in our world, bunny ears never materialized. The diorama also includes a title and a close-up of the encounter between New Hare-rizons and Ultima Peep. (📸: Emily Conover) #science#peepyourscience#newhorizons#space#peeps#puns#nasa#ultimathule#astronomy#kuiperbelt

@nasa • • • • • Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday

🌑ULTIMA THULE⚫ On January 1 2019, #NewHorizons swooped to within 3,500 kilometers of the #KuiperBelt world known as Ultima Thule.🛰 That's about 3 times closer than its July 2015 closest approach to #Pluto and was accomplished 6.6 billion kilometers from Earth! 🌍 This is the most detailed picture possible of the farthest object ever explored. The larger section, referred to as Ultima, is recently understood to be flattened like a fluffy pancake, while the smaller, Thule, has a shape that resembles a dented walnut. (via NASA/APOD) 💫 📸: NASA, Johns Hopkins University APL, Southwest Research Institute, National Optical Astronomy Observatory

⏳ After 1992, its status as a #planet was questioned following the #discovery of several objects of similar size in the #Kuiper belt. In 2005, #Eris, a #dwarf#planet in the scattered disc which is 27% more massive than #Pluto, was discovered. This led the International Astronomical Union to define the term "planet" formally in 2016. That definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet, the largest known #plutoid (or ice dwarf) . 💡 Percival Lowell (check the stories) founded the #Lowell#Observatory in Flagstaff, #Arizona and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death . Did you know? 👇🏻

Throw on a pair of 3D glasses and take a look at this most recent photo of Ultima Thule. It might pop in three-dimensional splendor! NASA’s New Horizons mission team released this new image, which is a compilation based on photographs the New Horizons spacecraft snapped during its closest approach to the Kuiper Belt object, officially known as 2014 MU69, over the weekend. "These views provide a clearer picture of Ultima Thule's overall shape," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, said in a statement. 📷: @nasa / Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Reposted from @nasa - Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday#space#camera#spacecamera#mission#solarsystem#home#farfromhome#science#thescienceelement

Repost By nasa: Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday

Reposted from @nasa - Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday#sumate#followus👍👍‼️@Massabesmasnoscuidamos@MASgazine@Mascotas de @RadioMASTV 🎶🎶🎧🎙️ - #regrann

Meet #UltimaThule! After flying by the most distant object ever explored, our New Horizons spacecraft beamed back the first pictures and science data. These new images, taken from as close as 17,000 miles, revealed that this object is a “contact binary,” consisting of two connected spheres. End to end, Ultima Thule measures 19 miles in length. The team has dubbed the larger sphere “Ultima” and the smaller sphere “Thule”. The team says that the two spheres likely joined as early as 99 percent of the way back to the formation of the solar system, colliding no faster than two cars in a fender-bender. It likely formed over time as a rotating cloud of small, icy bodies started to combine. Eventually, 2 larger bodies remained and slowly spiraled closer until they touched, forming the bi-lobed object we see today. Studying Ultima Thule is helping us understand how planets form — both those in our own solar system and those orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Data from the New Year's Day flyby will continue to arrive over the next weeks and months, with much higher resolution images yet to come. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute #nasa#space#kuiperbelt#ultimathule#science#explore#spacecraft#newhorizons#newyearseve#newyearsday#discovery#contactbinary#data#spheres#solarsystem

#Repost@nasa (@get_repost) ・・・ Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday

Reposted from @nasa - Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday - #regrann

#Repost@nasa with @get_repost ・・・ Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday

Cross your eyes and break out the 3D glasses! 😎 Our New Horizons team has new stereo views of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic New Year’s 2019 flyby, four billion miles from Earth – and the images are as cool and captivating as they are scientifically valuable. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at slightly different viewing angles, creating a “binocular” effect, just as the slight separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. Using images like this, we can better understand the extraordinary shape of the farthest object ever explored Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory #nasa#space#spacecraft#3d#kuiperbelt#flyby#newhorizons#ultimathule#picoftheday

Excerpts from Matt Williams's article on @universetoday [https://www.universetoday.com/141686/pluto-and-charon-dont-have-enough-small-craters/] Craters on Solar System bodies act as a sort of record, indicating how many impacts and of what size the body has experienced over time. To astronomers and planetary scientists, these provide hints about the history of the object and its place in the Solar System The Kuiper Belt is a large belt of icy bodies and planetoids that orbit the Solar System beyond Neptune, extending from a distance of 30 AU to approximately 50 AU. Much like the Main Asteroid Belt, it contains many small bodies, all of which are remnants from the formation of the Solar System. The main difference is that the Kuiper Belt is much larger, being 20 times as wide and up to 200 times as massive. The New Horizons team found that there were fewer craters on the surfaces of Pluto and Charon than expected. This finding implies that there are very few objects in the Trans-Neptunian region that measure between 91 m (300 ft) to 1.6 km (1 mile) in diameter. Perhaps the asteroid belt has more small bodies than the Kuiper Belt because its population experiences more collisions that break up larger objects into smaller ones. . . #Pluto#Charon#craters#KBO#AsteroidBelt#space#astronomy#TransNeptunian#transneptunianobjects#AU#solarsystem#KuiperBelt#kuiperbeltobject